Renton’s Public Works Director Martin Pastucha raised serious questions about his plans for Renton History Museum at his budget briefing to the City Council on on October 12th. He has requested no capital budget for the museum in the next six years, but has said the museum needs about $1.8 million dollars in additional renovations in order to be code compliant and legal. He specifically said the museum needs a new roof and hazardous materials abatement, neither of which has been addressed by the “Major Renovations” that have kept the museum closed for the past year and a half. Director Pastucha also said that the museum needs ADA bathroom and walkway upgrades to be legal, and pointed out that these and the other improvement mentioned have not been funded. (The ADA upgrades typically become legally required when making “major renovations,” and Public Works has characterized this year’s museum window-replacement as a “major renovation”.)
But Director Pastucha made no budget request for any of the necessary funding, leaving everyone wondering how a museum with hazardous materials, a leaky roof, and illegal bathrooms was ever supposed to function. It certainly is hard to imagine it opening in January 2027, as the City has claimed recently on their website. Another page of the City’s website says the “major renovations” will be completed by our nations “250th birthday,” a deadline that obviously came and went while the museum remained closed. The Renton Council should insist that Director Pastucha provide a firm plan, budget and schedule, before the museum itself becomes “history.”
The following screenshots (with speaker captions) illustrate the exchange between Martin Pastucha and Council President Ruth Perez, as President Perez tried to get a firm fix on when the museum could open. The full video can be viewed here.
The following charts are provided as additional references:
The city currently has two information webpages describing the museum renovations, one saying they’ll be done by July 4 2025, and one saying they’ll be done by January 2027.
